Losino Horse

The Losino receives its name from the original area where it is bred, the Losa Valley, in the north of the province of Burgos (Spain). It is found to be related to other breeds derived from the Cantabrian-Pyrenean branch: the Portuguese Garrano, the Galician pony, the Asturian pony, the Thieldon, the Sorraia, the Navarre horse, the Basque Pottok, the Mérens horse and the extinct Catalan horse.

The Losino breed maintained its number until the 50's but afterwards, and principally due to farming mechanization, the crossbreeding with meat breeds and donkey populations for mule production, its population declined to the most critical limits of its history in 1986 (around 30 animals). In this year, and due to the alarming situation, a project for recuperating the breed was established, being created in Pancorbo (Burgos) the first Breeding and Selection Center of the Losino Horse. In this center it is maintained a natural and extensive system of breeding. The animals, once captured, broken and tamed, are used for infant-junior horseback riding, harnessing, and to carry out the equestrian routes through rural and mountain zones. The census in 1,999 has reached a population of around 200 animals.

Morphological Characters

Weight - 300 (661 pounds) to 350 kg. (770 pounds)

Height - Females have an average height to the withers of 13.1 hands and males of 14 hands.

Head - Large head with fine features, straight frontal profile, sometimes, with a slight undulation at nasal levels (stretched out S or foal profile), small ears, thin and making a concave interior arch, flat forehead, large, expressive, kind eyes, wide nostrils, thick lips.

Front Quarters - Thin, with good joints and blood vessels, and very evident tendons, good arm, thin forearm, short fetlock joint and small, hard, black hoofs.

Hocks - Sometimes a bit closed. (sickle hocked)

Phaneroptical Characters

Hair - The hair of the mane and tail is abundant and long, specially in winter as defense from the cold weather. The foals present for almost up to two years a coarse type hair similar to the ones found on donkeys, which later will change for the normal type hair of the breed. In the summer and specially in adults, the hair is short and strong. Do not have fetlocks.

Coat - Only admitted black coat with its varieties blood sausage which could present a reddish tonality in winter and being in summer darker and shinier. May present a white mark in the forehead.

Eliminatory Defects

According to the Losino Horse Breeding Association (1988) the eliminatory defects considered for this breed are as follow:

Any variation of the coat that is not black.

Presence of white spots on the coat other than the one permitted in the forehead.

Any feature that may lead to suspect of crossbreeding with other breeds.

Scattered hoofs.

Too much fetlock.

Straight or square rump.

Variations in the forehead-nasal profile that is not that of the breed's.